Matt Damon Takes Sides in Presidential Race; He’s Going For…

Matt Damon endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton because of an issue near and dear to his heart–the need for clean global drinking water. He talks about it in a new interview. (Photo by Cedric Buchet for Town & Country)

Matt Damon knew the value of clean water even before filming his hit movie “The Martian.” He’s made it one of his pet projects around the globe. And, it shaped his endorsement in this year’s Presidential election. He says in a new interview Democrat Hillary Clinton gets it.

The endorsement may not be that surprising. Damon, who hails from Boston’s Democratic warrens, has always supported liberal causes along with pals like George Clooney.

But the reason behind his endorsement has special meaning.

“We don’t know anyone who goes thirsty. We have faucets everywhere. Our toilet water is cleaner than what 663 million people drink [around the world],” he tells Town & Country magazine.

The world water crisis hit home in Flint, Mich. The city discovered that it’s drinking water had been contaminated for years by lead. What’s worse, local and state government officials knew about it.

“The crisis in Flint, Michigan, ironically, is one of the first times, at least in my memory, that Americans have become aware of just how necessary clean water is, and the dire consequences of not having it,” says the 45-year-old actor.

Clinton earned his endorsement because she seems to grasp the problem better than any other candidate, he says.

He explains:

“She understands it from a number of different angles—as a national security issue, as a human rights issue, and, obviously, its impact on women and girls. This is not a partisan issue, which is one really good thing about it. We’ve talked in equal parts to Republican and Democratic senators and congressmen.”

Damon, like many other celebrities, had to learn to pick an choose his battles as he became famous and his career stabilized.

“People started asking me to come to this gala or that. And then I would find my name associated with things that I didn’t know anything about,” he explains.

“I didn’t want to be somebody at whom people rolled their eyes, thinking, ‘What is he doing, getting into the middle of this kind of stuff?’”

For more from the interview and Damon’s decade-long work with water.org, check out Town & Country’s June/JulyPhilanthropy issue. It hits newsstands May 17 and is available online now.

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